Protect Our Remaining Mature and Old-Growth Forests

The Biden Administration announced an Executive Order to protect older forests, including the ancient forests here in the Pacific Northwest. He is directing the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to create policies to preserve these old forests as a part of efforts to help curb climate change.

Tell the US Forest Service and BLM to keep these climate champions alive.

Mature and old-growth trees capture vast amounts of carbon pollution, storing it for decades while living and even after their natural deaths if they're left in the forest. Logging immediately releases that carbon back into the atmosphere, with only a fraction of live-tree carbon stored in wood products long-term. The released carbon is irrecoverable on any time scale relevant to avoiding the worst impacts of climate change.

Old forests are also critical for biodiversity. They are home to endangered wildlife like Pacific fishers, Northern spotted owls, and wild salmon. Older trees ease flooding, help produce clean drinking water, and are more resistant to wildfire than second growth forests.

Despite all these benefits, timber sale planners in the Pacific Northwest target old trees in logging plans too often. It is time to protect these ancient trees once and for all. Tell the Agriculture and Interior departments to make a policy to protect old forests.

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Protect our remaining old-growth forests

Dear Secretary Haaland and Secretary Vilsack,

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In 2022, the US Forest Service and Western Oregon BLM are still logging old-growth trees in the Pacific Northwest. Older forests filter and store water needed for Pacific salmon and provide millions of people with clean and reliable drinking water. Old-growth forests serve as the last remaining habitats for countless plant and wildlife species. We now know that these forests store billions of tons of carbon and their conservation should be a cornerstone of U.S. climate policy.

Here in the Pacific Northwest, our forests begin showing older forest characteristics around 80-100 years old. We should look to protect the trees that are both mature and old-growth so we can recover the old forest ecosystem.

Thank you for recognizing that forests, especially old forests and trees, are central to climate change policy. As the Forest Service and BLM develop specific policies, they should ensure that strong, lasting protections for these climate champions are in place. Public forest managers have a critical responsibility to recover these carbon-rich forests for the climate, water quality, and recreation benefits they afford to local communities.

Sincerely, [Your information here]